New Zealand 2011 trip, Day 5, Jan 7th: Egmont/Taranaki (a bust)

It's raining! No views of the Mt Taranaki/Egmont volcano today. In fact, gonna skip our planned hike altogether, and just head to our next hostel, which is a 3-4 hr drive I think.

Checked out of the hostel ~9:30am this morning, and drove into town to see if the Canon store was open. They were, but didn't have lens cleaner (something I forgot to bring). No views during the drive to the North Egmont visitor center. The weather is supposed to start clearing up later in the afternoon, and should be great tomorrow. But not worth sticking around a day. We'll see more volcanoes in other places… I counted 14 rabbits outside the visitors center.

Driving in NZ thoughts: At the start of each day, it takes some focus to make sure you start driving on the left side of the road.

Our room from our backpackers in New Plymouth, and the giant eating area & kitchen...

A look at down town New Plymouth. A gloomy view out the North Egmont visitors center, at what would normally be a big volcano...

10:37pm, National Park Village, Howards Lodge

Lots of rain today. Lots of driving.

Visited an organic brewery ~1hr from the visitors center, "Mike's brewery". Bought a big bottle of IPA (one of the only places that brews an IPA in all of NZ). Would have prefered a 6 pack, but they only brew it seasonally, and it comes in a wine bottle. The woman who worked there was originally from Breckenridge, CO! No wonder this brewery was pretty decent, there was CO brewing experience behind it...

We stopped at Mike's Organic Brewery along the way. Too bad I couldn't taste, since I had to drive another 3 hours. Bought a bottle of IPA though...

Had a small late lunch at a take-away an hour later, splitting a venison burger that came with sliced beets as a topping (quite good!), and crab stick (imitation crab tempura).

To reach National Park Village, I followed what looked like a short cut road on the map, even though the street signs were directing me the long way. Turns out this "short cut" was like 60km of windy road through very choppy, grassy, foothills. It also turned into a gravel road for half the way. Not sure it was a short cut, but made for some pretty scenery under the gloomy skies.

Some pics from the road as we we've past grassy foothills...

A pic of the terrain as we drive by (caught a bird)...

We stopped at this lookout near the end of our "short cut" mountain road. We drove down to flatter land...

Our BBH backpackers in National Park, Howard's Lodge, would be our home for the next 2 nights, since we'd need all day tomorrow on the famous Tongrariro Crossing. For dinner, we cooked up rosemary mint lamb, with yams, and iceberg salad. The lamb was really messy (oily and saucy), which I love.

Had lots of stress trying to figure out transport for the Crossing tomorrow. Ended up paying an additional $40NZ to get an extra hour on the hike, since our hostel only has one bus from 8am - 4pm, and I want as much time on the through hike tomorrow, so I can climb Mt Doom!

Not much at the small grocery store at the gas station in town here. National Park Village is pretty small, but full of tons of lodges/hostels.